Chapter 25
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Tessica turned off her alarm before it went off, and sighed. It wasn’t even 6 am yet, but there was no point in staying in bed when her thoughts wouldn’t let her mind relax. At least she’d gotten almost six hours of sleep before waking up, which was better than some nights. She put her hand on the pillow that Connor should be using, and almost cried again. Instead, she shook her head and forced herself to get up.
Fifteen minutes later, she was at the kitchen table sipping her coffee in her pajamas. She’d told Kelly that she’d be on her own that morning specifically so she and Connor could spend some time together. Going in to work sounded pretty good right about now, but she didn’t want to take the wind out of Kelly’s sails just to distract herself from her misery. She had accounting work that really needed to be done, but she doubted she could concentrate on numbers at this point in time.
A loud knock on her front door made her jump. Luckily, she hadn’t been taking a sip of coffee when it happened, or she’d have spilled it all over herself.
She was halfway to the door when she realized who it probably was and froze. Did she even want to talk to him? What was the point?
“Tessica?” Connor called. He knocked once more, a bit softer this time. “Please answer the door.”
She took a deep breath, walked over, and opened the door. Instead of stepping aside to let him in, she stood in front of the doorway and crossed her arms. “Yes?”
He looked her in the eyes. “I’m sorry about last night. It was beyond wrong of me to threaten to sell the house, and nothing like that will ever happen again.”
Relief flooded through her. He sounded genuinely sorry, which made her willing to hear him out. She stepped to the side and uncrossed her arms. “Come in. Would you like some coffee?”
He stepped in, and she shut the door behind him.
“Coffee would be great.”
She went to the kitchen, poured him a cup, and handed it over before gesturing to the table.
Once they were both sitting, she said, “If things are going to move forward between us, and that’s a big if, you’re going to need to give me more than just an apology.”
He blushed and nodded. “I know.”
“I want an explanation.”
Connor’s eyes opened wide as if that wasn’t what he expected her to say. “Well… I was in a bad mood before I arrived because my flight was delayed. Then seeing my mom’s house empty made me feel worse.”
“Being in a bad mood isn’t a reason to lash out.”
“I’m aware.”
She raised an eyebrow and waited for more.
“Then when I saw how much work you’d put into your plans I felt betrayed. Like you’d purposely hidden it from me.”
Feeling a touch guilty herself, she nodded. “I am sorry you felt that way. It certainly wasn’t my intention.” She focused on her coffee and added. “I honestly thought you’d be happy about it. Like hiding a good surprise, not hiding a misdeed.” Focusing on him again, she added, “That was an error in judgement on my part, and I’m sorry.”
Connor shook his head. “No, don’t apologize. I?—”
“Just because you did something worse, doesn’t excuse my behavior. I should have at least told you I had a surprise to show you. Some kind of warning instead of just dumping the whole thing on you.”
It took a moment, but soon he nodded. “Okay, apology accepted. And I do think I would have handled things a little better if I’d had some forewarning.” He reached out and put a hand over hers on the table. “I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night,” he confessed. “I’ve thought it over, and I’m sure most of my reaction had to do with jealousy. I wanted you to spend your free time with me, not with other people. But it’s not exactly fair for me to ask you to spend your free time pining for me when I’m off flying.”
Relived that he seemed to have done quite a bit of soul-searching over the evening, she gave him a little smile. “I can understand feeling a bit jealous.”
He squeezed her hand. “But I also think I was upset that I couldn’t control you or change your mind.
“Oh.” She wasn’t sure if it was good or bad that he could admit that.
“I’ve been in equal relationships, and I’ve been in kinky relationships. But this is the first time I’ve been in a kinky relationship that is also equal. Or at least equal sometimes, and I haven’t handled the equality part of it well at all.”
“I’m sure it’s a difficult adjustment,” Tessica said. “Especially when playing Daddy to my Little Tessy went so well for both of us.”
Connor nodded. “And when we’ve slept together, you’ve been beautifully submissive. It didn’t seem as though you were faking that.”
“I wasn’t.”
“Is there any part of you that wants to take more control in the bedroom?”
She thought about that for a few seconds before shaking her head. “No. If I was with someone who wanted me to take control in the bedroom, I could do that once in a while, but I would be doing it to make them happy, not to satisfy my own drive.”
“Glad I didn’t read that wrong. I also don’t have any trouble seeing you as an equal when we’re both topping Littles. When you’re in Mommy mode, you take on an air of confident dominance that I naturally respect.”
“I see.” She frowned. “So it’s just when I’m being my normal self with no kink that you have difficulty respecting me.”
He scowled. “No. Don’t put words in my mouth. I respect you no matter what. I just…” He winced. “Well, I didn’t do a good job of respecting you last night. I kept expecting you to react submissively and when you didn’t, I lashed out.”
“To be fair, I was talking about kink at the time. I doubt you would have lashed out if I’d been talking about taking on more accounting work.”
“Probably not,” he agreed. “Can you forgive me?”
She thought that over for several seconds. “I don’t know. Can you accept punishment? Physical punishment from me as a true equal?”
He focused on the table and nodded. “It won’t be easy for me, but yes. I’ll accept whatever punishment you think I deserve.”
“What if I said I wanted you over my knee for a spanking?”
Connor blanched and gave her a jerky little nod of acceptance.
She shook her head. “I don’t think either one of us would recover well from that. But the fact that you’d be willing says a lot to me. It’s probably sexist of me, because I have no qualms about going over your knee, Little or not, but I’d never expect the same of you.”
He let out a huge breath that he must have been holding. “Oh thank god.”
Tessica moved back a bit to glance under the table at his waist. “Are you wearing a belt?”
“Yes,” he answered.
She held out her hand palm up. “Hand it over.”
His entire face turned red as he unbuckled his belt, pulled it off, and handed it to her.
She grasped the buckle and the other end in her hand. “Move the coffee cups to the counter, drop your pants, and bend over the table.”
Connor moved the cups, moved his chair out of the way, undid his pants and let them fall to the floor. Then bent over the table at a ninety-degree angle and leaned on his hands.
“Underwear, too.”
He stood, pushed them down off his hips, and bent back over.
“I’m going to give you ten. I don’t have a lot of practice wielding a belt, so if I accidentally hit something I shouldn’t, your safeword is red. Got it?”
“Got it.”
Tessica pushed his shirt up on his back, and left her hand there.
“If I do something that upsets you in our day-to-day life, you talk to me in a calm and rational way until we resolve the issue together. You don’t lash out at me and make threats to get my compliance. Is that clear?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Satisfied with the sincerity she heard in his voice, Tessica lifted her arm high, and snapped the belt down across the very middle of his backside.
He hissed and his entire body tensed.
She waited a moment for him to get past the initial shock of it, and inspected the pink mark that was forming on his skin. Deeming that about the correct amount of force, she aimed for the spot right under that stripe, and landed another.
A small grunt escaped him, but he stayed completely still.
Tessica had to admit there was a small bit of satisfaction in this. She wasn’t getting off on it, but it certainly felt justified. She waited for a few seconds before slapping the belt against the lowest part of his backside.
Again he let out a little noise of discomfort, but that was it.
Tessica was no stranger to dishing out a spanking to a misbehaving Little, but that was vastly different to what she was doing now. She found it fascinating to see the skin turning such a vivid shade of pink so quickly after the lash landed. She aimed for his sit- spots on the fourth lash.
Connor let out a loud surprised grunt.
She took aim again and slapped the belt against his upper thighs.
He grunted again and a moment later he hissed and muttered, “Fuck.”
Frowning, she said, “I don’t think swearing is appropriate when I’m punishing you for lashing out at me.”
“Sorry.” His voice sounded tight.
She aimed for the middle of his ass where the first lash had landed, and put another stripe on top of the first.
His body jerked forward a few inches, his entire body tensed, and a much higher- pitched noise came out of his throat.
She put some gentle pressure on his lower back, and he slowly moved back to his original position. She waited a few more seconds until the tense muscles in his back relaxed marginally before landing the seventh stripe just below the sixth.
He stayed in place, kept his jaw clenched, and his lips pressed shut, but another high-pitched grunt emanated from his throat.
The justification she’d felt earlier, dwindled, and Tessica found she really didn’t want to give him the last three. But that wouldn’t set a good precedent. She took a deep breath, and gave him another smack.
Again he stayed still, and kept his mouth shut, but the noise that came out of him sounded more like a yelp than a grunt.
“Last two,” she said. “I’m going to do them fast, so brace yourself.”
His body tensed beneath her hand.
Tessica didn’t put quite as much force into the last two smacks, but she doubted he noticed since they landed on his sit-spots and then upper thighs.
His body jerked forward, and an audible “Ah!” came out of him right after the last lick.
She set the belt down on the table, and rubbed small circles on his back.
He took several deep breaths and slowly relaxed
“Okay.” She patted his back. “You’re forgiven, and you can get dressed.”